Padfoot, A Daddy?
by beatlesxlove
Summary: AU. Currently being rewritten! Before Hagrid can get Harry to the Dursleys, Sirius shows up and will not allow Harry to stay with them. Instead, he raises Harry, and learns the difficulties of raising a kid.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Harry Potter. All rights go to J.K. Rowling.**

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It was half-past eleven when I arrived at James and Lily's house. The tiny cottage had part of the roof blown off, and the shingles littered the yard. The acrid smell of smoke filled my nostrils.

_Please, Merlin, let them be alive_. I prayed. _The Dark Mark isn't over the house, so that means they're alive, right?_

As I rushed through the front door, all my hopes were crushed.

James was lying on the hallway floor, spread-eagled on his back. His hazel eyes were wide with fear, but he couldn't see anything anymore.

He was dead.

I could barely hear the loud, guttural screams that were emitting from me.

James Potter, my best friend, my fellow Marauder, my brother in everything but blood, was dead. Gone. He, Lily, and Harry were never coming back. I knew better than to think Lily and Harry had somehow survived. Since when had Voldemort ever left a single survivor?

I fell to the ground sobbing, my entire body shaking. Tears were flowing so fast that I couldn't see straight.

"Why?" I shouted at ceiling. "Why did that fucking bastard have to take away the only family I had? Why?"

My words echoed around the silent room. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I went over to James's body.

"I'm so sorry, Prongs," I whispered. "I never thought Peter would be the spy."

Peter.

The thought of him made white-hot anger pulsed through my body. Peter Pettigrew had turned Lily and James in! The sneaky little rat had been working with Voldemort all along!

Millions of thoughts ran through my brain. Peter was always late for Order meetings that he actually showed up to. He wore long sleeves in the middle of the summer, surely to hide that Dark Mark on his arm. He wouldn't say Voldemort's name. He was the only person Harry didn't like. Whenever he was in Peter's arms, he'd scream bloody murder. Hell, Harry even let Petunia handle him without a fuss!

Peter was the spy, and he'd gotten my best friends killed.

I was going to kill Peter fucking Pettrigrew.

As I made my way to the door, ready to find Peter and tear him apart, I heard wails coming from upstairs. A baby's wails.

Harry was alive. My godson was alive!

I sprinted up the stairs and headed straight for the nursery. The air became cold, and as I looked up, I saw I giant hole in the ceiling. Ash, plaster, and shingles littered the room. Harry was standing up in his cot, still wailing. A bloody gash was on his forehead.

Before I could go and get him out of there, I froze.

Lily's body was lying in a crumpled heap on the floor in front of Harry's cot. Her eyes were wide and full of fear, just like her husband's. Tears started to fill my eyes again.

"Oh, Lily," I whispered.

I carefully stepped over her body and pulled my screaming godson out of his cot. His green eyes, identical to his mother's, met my own. Big, fat tears trailed down his cheeks. I wiped them away with my hand. Taking my wand from my pocket, I pointed it at the cut on his forehead. It instantly healed. I cleaned off the dried blood, noticing an odd, lightning-bolt shaped scar was left in its place. Why the hell did Harry have a scar? Did it have something to do with why he'd survived?

Harry was still fussing in my arms.

"Everything's going to be alright, Harry," I soothed, gently rocking the little boy. "We're going to figure everything out."

I brought him over to the rocking chair that was in the corner of the room and sat down in it. While I was trying to calm him down, I heard the creak of the wooden floorboards.

I shot up, instantly alert. Somebody was in the house. Large, pounding footsteps started coming up the stairs.

"Who's there?" I demanded, shielding Harry and pointing my wand at the doorway. "Show yourself!"

As the footsteps approached, I drew Harry closer to me. Nobody was going to hurt him. A few seconds passed, and the only sound I could hear was my furiously beating heart.

A giant, bearded face appeared in the doorway. I let out the breath I was holding.

"Hagrid!" I exclaimed. "Oh, thank Merlin."

Hagrid ducked inside the room, hunched over to fit his large frame in the room. He was clutching an enormous handkerchief in one hand, and his flowery pink umbrella in the other.

"'Lo, Sirius," he said, sniffling. "Yeh've heard the news?"

"Yes," I said softly, blinking back the tears that threatened to escape for what seemed the millionth time tonight.

Without warning, Hagrid started to sob.

"I jus' can' believe it!" he cried, blowing his nose into the handkerchief. "Lily an' James…dead…"

"I know," I said. "I know. Hagrid, how did you find out about this?"

"Professor Dumbledore. He's the one who sent me 'ere."

"Sent you here? For what?"

"He wants me ter take Harry ter him. Somethin' about bringin' him ter his aunt an' uncle's house. Now that Lily an' James…d-d-died…Harry has ter have _somebody _look after him."

"Hold on!" I interjected. "Hagrid, _I'm _Harry's godfather! Lily and James appointed _me_ as his legal guardian if anything were to happen to them. Petunia and Vernon don't get to take Harry! I'm his guardian now!"

"But Professor Dumbledore told me ter bring Harry ter him!"

"I don't care!"

"But, Sirius-"

"Harry is my godson, Hagrid!"

"Sirius-"

"Hagrid, you don't understand. Lily and James were my family. Harry's all I've got now. Please, Hagrid, I'm not letting him go."

He sighed in defeat. "Well, if yeh insist, yeh'd best come with me ter see Professor Dumbledore."

I nodded. "Alright. Let's go."

I grabbed a blanket to wrap Harry in. It was a soft blue. I remembered watching Lily knit it while she was pregnant. I glanced back to her body.

"Hagrid, what are we going to do with the bodies?" I asked.

"I s'pose we'll have ter ask Professor Dumbledore about that," he replied. "Come on, he'll be wonderin' where I am."

Together, we walked down the stairs, out the door, and into the cold October air.

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**Author's Note: ****I have decided to restart this story. I give all of you thanks for the many reviews, favorites, and for putting this story on your alerts! I will try to update this as often as I can.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Harry Potter. I have used some lines from the Philosopher's Stone and the Prisoner of Azkaban. All rights go to J.K. Rowling.**

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It didn't take Hagrid and I very long to reach Surrey. As I parked my motorcycle on Privet Drive, I carefully got up, making sure I didn't do anything to wake Harry. He'd fallen asleep as we were flying over Bristol.

I could see the silhouettes of two figures in the dark. One of them, I assumed, was Dumbledore. I couldn't tell who the other person was, because all of the streetlamps had been put out.

"A letter?" came a woman's voice, anger in her tone. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a _letter_?"

I recognized the woman's voice as the voice of one of my former Professors, Minerva McGonagall. She and Dumbledore turned as they saw Hagrid and I approaching.

"Ah, Hagrid!" said Dumbledore pleasantly. "At last. And Sirius, how nice to see you as well. May I inquire as to what you are doing here?"

"Well, sir," Hagrid began, before I could open my mouth and ask Dumbledore what the hell he was planning to do with my godson, "Sirius here doesn't want yeh ter give Harry ter the Muggles. When I got ter Godric's Hollow he was already there, an' he wouldn't let me take Harry from him."

"Why is that, Sirius?" Dumbledore asked, turning to face me.

"Why?" I spluttered, my temper starting to rise. "_Why? _Professor, Harry's my bloody godson! _My _godson! You can't take him away from me! I was appointed his legal guardian for a reason! Lily and James wanted _me_ to take care of Harry if something happened to them, not Petunia! Who came running to Godric's Hollow the moment they knew something was wrong? Me. Not Petunia, _me_. Hell, Petunia isn't even going to give a damn that her sister's dead! She hates Lily! She hates Lily, and you want to put Harry here? That's not happening while I'm around."

"Sirius," said Dumbledore, "I understand your concern for your godson, but tell me, how did you come to learn of Lily and James's deaths?"

Oh, no! He was not going to switch subjects on me!

"I'll tell you that once I get the rightful custody of my godson," I growled. "He belongs to me, Professor. He's the only family I've got left, and there's not a bloody chance I'm letting Petunia take Harry."

The old man sighed before he opened his mouth to speak. "Sirius, you have to understand. Petunia is Lily's sister-"

"I know that," I spat.

Dumbledore merely ignored me before continuing, "-and because of that, the two have a blood connection. You see, Lily sacrificed herself for Harry. Her blood is what protects him. That is why he is not dead. Because Lily and Petunia share the same, Voldemort would have no way to harm Harry if he were to stay with Petunia. As much as you and James acted like brothers, you aren't James's blood relative."

"I don't care about that!" I shouted. "I can keep Harry safe, too!"

"But you do not have the blood protection that she does."

"Screw blood protection! How the hell did you even find any of this out? When I went to Godric's Hollow, I could still smell the smoke in the air. There's no way anybody could've gotten there so quickly after the attack!"

"Then how did you get there, Sirius? How did you find out about the attack?"

"I'd convinced Lily and James to make Peter their Secret-Keeper," I began. "And he was in hiding just like the rest of us, so tonight I decided to check up on him. With all the attacks going on, I wanted to make sure he was still alright…so I went to his house. When I got there, Peter wasn't anywhere in sight. There was no sign of an attack, a struggle….of anything. I knew something was amiss. How could he have gotten out of his house without being attacked by Death Eaters? Everybody knew he was close with Lily and James; surely they would try to torture him to find their hiding place…and if he'd left his hiding place, why wouldn't he tell us? Then I realized the only way the rat could've gotten out alive was if he was in Voldemort's league. I started for Lily and James's house as quickly as I could…and I saw the house destroyed…and…and their bodies… and I realized what Peter must've done…what I'd done…" I broke off, trying to regain my composure.

"Thank you for telling me that, Sirius," said Dumbledore, his voice quiet. "Do you know any information on where Peter may have gone?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't."

"Very well. I will inform the Auror Department as soon as we are done here."

"Aren't we done here? Harry is staying with _me_."

"Please, Sirius, try to reconsider- it is in Harry's best interest that he stays with Petunia."

"Like hell it is! Professor, I've already told you, _Harry is staying with me_. Would you like me to find the document that lists me as his legal guardian? Because I will. He. Is. Not. Staying. With. Petunia."

"Albus," said Professor McGonagall wearily, "Sirius is Harry's guardian. You cannot change that. Let him take the boy. Besides, it's not as if he will be mistreated. You can clearly see he loves him."

Dumbledore sighed. "I suppose you are right, Minerva. Sirius, Harry can stay with you."

"As he should," I said firmly, glaring at the Professor.

"Well, I suppose we should be off. I must inform the Auror Department about Mr. Pettigrew."

"Wait a minute," I said, putting a hand on Dumbledore's shoulder to stop him. "You never answered my question. How did _you_ know about the attacks, Professor?"

"I have my ways, Sirius," he said airily.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Right…"

"Oh, and Sirius?"

"Yes?"

"Are Lily and James's bodies still at the house?"

I nodded. "What…What should we do with them?"

"I think I funeral would be proper. Shall I come by tomorrow to discuss arrangements?"

"Erm…sure, Professor."

"Goodnight, Sirius."

"You, too, Professor."

I said my goodbyes to Professor McGonagall and Hagrid, and as we parted ways, I tucked Harry safely in my arms before starting the motorcycle to make my way back to my London flat.

"Come on, Harry," I whispered. "Let's go home."

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**Author's note:**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter two. Please read and review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Harry Potter. All rights go to J.K. Rowling.**

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I woke up around eight o'clock, getting up to let out my dog, Lennon, who was scratching at the door. As I went back to my bed, ready to curl up and fall back to sleep, I noticed a portable cot next to it, with Harry inside, fast asleep. When had he gotten here? Was I supposed to be watching him? That didn't make any sense; Lily and James-

As soon as I thought of their names, everything came back to me.

Lily and James were dead. Peter had betrayed them and turned them in.

My best friends were fucking _dead_.

Letting out a noise that was a cross between a groan and a sob, I immediately covered my mouth. Harry was still asleep!

I peered into the cot. Harry was beginning to stir.

…Okay, so I guess he wasn't asleep. Shit. I hadn't meant to wake him!

Harry's green eyes fluttered open. He sat up. As he took in his surroundings, his lip began to tremble and he burst out into loud sobs. I plucked him out of the cot and held him against my chest.

"Shh, Harry," I soothed. "It's okay. Relax, it's okay. It's just me. Just Sirius. You're fine, Harry, relax."

Well, he was mostly fine. If you didn't count the fact his parents had been murdered last night and he ended up with this weird scar on his forehead.

Harry calmed down, looking around the room. He glanced at me, his eyebrows furrowed. "Mumma? Dada?"

I sighed. How do you explain death to a toddler? "Harry…Mummy and Daddy have…gone away for a while. So you're going to stay here with me. I'm going to keep you safe."

"No Mumma?"

I shook my head. "No…"

"No Dada?"

I swallowed, trying to keep the tears at bay. "No, Harry. That's why you're with me."

Harry started to cry again, loud wails that made me want to break down and start crying with him.

"Harry…" I started, "It's going to be okay, shh…"

But Harry just kept crying. No matter what I did, I couldn't comfort him. What was I supposed to do? I was twenty-one. I didn't know anything about babies! How was I supposed to take care of one?

"Harry," I tried again, "please stop crying. Your Mummy and Daddy love you very much, and I know that they didn't want to leave you…but sometimes there are bad people out there. There was a very bad man out there who hurt your parents, but he's gone and you're safe now. It's going to be okay, Harry."

When I finished my little speech, Harry had stopped crying. Wow. It had actually worked. I wondered if he could understand me. Lily had told me once that babies understood a lot more than people gave them credit for.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of my growling stomach.

"Right," I said, scooping Harry up and heading towards the kitchen. "Does breakfast sound good to you?"

"Hungy, Padfoo'!" Harry replied.

I gave him a smile. "Well, let's go to the kitchen, then."

After pouring some food in Lennon's bowl, I turned to Harry.

"Alright, Harry, what do you want to eat?"

My godson just stared at me with his wide green eyes.

Oh, right. I mentally slapped myself. Fifteen-month-olds were _great_ at deciding what they wanted for breakfast. And talking. I tried to think of what Lily and James would feed him. I knew he could eat solid food and drink from a cup. Hm...maybe I'd feed him porridge. A lot of people liked porridge, didn't they?

I cooked a tiny bowl of porridge for Harry and poured him a cup of milk. Once it cooled enough, I conjured a highchair for him and handed him his breakfast. He stared at me again.

"What's wrong?" I asked him. "You can eat. Just pick up your spoon and-"

I'd forgotten to give him a spoon. Where had my brain gone?

I opened a drawer and searched for the smallest spoon I could find.

"Here you go," I handed it to him.

Harry grabbed the spoon and happily dug into his porridge…but instead of putting the food in his mouth, he lobbed it at me!

"Harry!" I shouted, wiping the porridge off of my face and shirt. "Don't throw food at me! I thought you were hungry!"

Harry grinned, clapping his hands together.

I sighed. "Try to get the food in your _mouth_ this time, kid."

Happy as could be, Harry scooped up more porridge, letting it sail towards my face.

I groaned. "Harry, I told you not to throw it at me!"

_Right, Sirius, because a baby is going to listen to you_, I thought.

"Okay, Harry," I began, walking closer to him, "today's lesson is how to use a spoon. Ready?" I took the spoon, put some porridge on it, and brought it to Harry's mouth. He swallowed it. "See? That's how you eat with a spoon. Now you try."

Harry took the spoon back and imitated what I'd done. But right before he put it in his mouth, he changed his mind, grinning as he smashed it in my face.

Wiping off my face for the third time, I looked at my godson, who was laughing and banging the spoon on the highchair.

"Harry," I said, fixing him with a stern look.

He pasted an innocent look on his face, as to say, _Who, me? I didn't do anything._

I grinned. "It's on!"

Grabbing my own bowl of porridge, I scooped some out with my hands and threw it at my godson.

Harry squealed with delight, throwing some back at me. I caught it in my mouth, laughing, and threw more back at him.

He tried to catch in his mouth like I had, but he couldn't do it, so he settled for throwing it again, laughing as it landed in my hair.

"Oh, you're going to pay for that!" I growled playfully. I started to make a snowball out of the porridge.

Harry, I learned, was very good at dodging flying objects. He would catch my porridge balls and throw them right back! He'd make a great Quidditch player one day.

As I made to throw another porridge ball, a knock on the door interrupted our food fight.

"I'll be there in a minute!" I called. Who was there? I thought I didn't have to pay the rent until next week.

Looking around the kitchen, I realized what a mess Harry and I had made. There was porridge _everywhere_. On the floor, on the walls, on our faces, smeared in our hair, and some had even ended up in Lennon's food bowl! I needed to find my wand so I could clean up this disgusting, goopy mess. My eyes scanned the kitchen.

_Shit_. I'd lost my _wand_. Time to tear apart the kitchen to look for it.

I never kept it in my pocket, because Mad-Eye Moody, who had trained me at the Auror academy, had somehow managed to blow part of his arse off by sticking his wand in his back pocket.

Maybe I'd left it on the counter. As I walked over to the counter, I slipped on something and landed face-first in a puddle of porridge. I could hear Harry laughing from his highchair.

_Glad my pain makes you laugh, kid_, I thought, getting to my feet. I looked at the floor to see what had caused me to fall.

It was my wand.

I bent down to pick it up, muttered a quick cleaning spell, and watched the muck disappear. Repeating the same spell on myself and Harry, I plucked him out of his highchair and answered the door.

Dumbledore and Remus stood in the doorway.

"Moony!" Harry exclaimed.

"Hello Professor," I said. "Hey, Moony."

"Hello, Sirius," Dumbledore greeted pleasantly. "Remus and I thought we'd stop by to discuss some things with you."

"Erm…okay. Come in."

I let them enter the tiny flat. Dumbledore sat on the sofa.

"Would you like some tea?" I asked awkwardly. I wasn't expecting them to show up like that!

"Chamomile would be lovely, thank you, Sirius," said Dumbledore.

"Do you want some help?" Remus asked quietly.

I nodded. "Thanks, Moony."

We walked to the kitchen area in silence. I stuck Harry back in the highchair and got out the kettle. Remus went to the cabinets and pulled down some teacups.

"Padfoot?" came Remus's quiet voice.

"Yeah?" I replied, my voice just as quiet.

"I…I wanted to tell you I'm sorry for suspecting you were the spy. Peter…he tried to convince me that it was you…and I still thought you'd turned James and Lily in until Dumbledore explained everything to me this morning. I can't believe how stupid I was. You'd be the last person on Earth to betray them. Can you forgive me, Padfoot?"

"Of course, Moony. I'm sorry we didn't tell you we switched Secret-Keepers. We just…we didn't know who to trust. And since you were disappearing all the time, I thought…"

"I know."

"I'm an idiot. You were trying to recruit the werewolves to our side, weren't you?"

"Yes."

I groaned. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"It isn't your fault, Padfoot. You said it yourself. You just didn't know who to trust."

"I know, but you're one of my best friends, Remus! One of the Marauders! We swore that we were brothers for life! I was stupid to not trust you."

Remus put a hand on my shoulder. "Sirius, it's okay. I forgive you, so don't beat yourself up over this."

"Thanks, Moony." I grinned.

He grinned back. "You're welcome, Padfoot."

The tea kettle whistled. I took it off of the stove and poured three cups of tea, placing them on a tray with a bowl of sugar. Remus took Harry out of his chair, and the three of us went out to the couch.

"Thank you for the tea," said Dumbledore politely, spooning some sugar into his tea. "Now, I came here to discuss the matters concerning Mr. Pettigrew. The Auror department has been notified that he is still on the loose, and the most qualified Aurors have been assigned to his case. However, they aren't sure of where he could possibly be. As you two were his close friends, I know you would know more about his possible whereabouts."

"Well, Peter didn't have any siblings, so he couldn't have hidden with any of them," said Remus. "His father died last year, but his mother's still alive, though I doubt he'd somewhere as obvious as his childhood home."

"It wouldn't hurt to check. Where is his childhood home located?"

"It's in Cornwall. I'm not sure of the exact address."

"Thank you, Remus. Do you know of anything else that could help?"

Remus and I glanced at each other. We knew that if Peter was anywhere, he'd be in his animagus form. It was hard to catch a rat. But if we told Dumbledore, our secret would be out, and illegal animagus transformation had a minimum sentence of a year in Azkaban. I couldn't afford that now.

I sighed. We had to tell Dumbledore, or Peter would never be caught.

"Professor?" I asked. "Erm, there is one thing you may want to know."

"Yes?" He was listening intently.

"Peterisanillegalanimagus," I blurted out.

There was a familiar twinkle in Dumbledore's blue eyes. "Could you repeat that?"

"Peter's an illegal animagus," I said sheepishly. "And…I'm one, too…so is- I mean was- James."

I looked down at my feet. It had hurt to say James _was_ an animagus…

"They did for me," Remus spoke up. "So they could keep me company during my transformations."

"Why am I not surprised?" said Dumbledore, a small smile playing at his lips. "It seems like the type of thing that the four of you would've done. An extraordinary achievement, I must say, especially seeing how you kept it quiet from me."

I blushed. "Thanks, Professor."

"What form does Pettigrew take?"

"He turns into a fat, grey rat," said Remus. "Fitting, considering what he's done."

"Bastard," I muttered.

"Well, this information helps tremendously, boys! I shall inform the Aurors immediately."

"Professor?" I asked. "You're not going to tell anyone about us, are you?"

"No, Sirius. You have my word that I won't say anything. You did it for a very noble cause."

I grinned. "Thank you, Professor!"

"You're welcome, my dear boy. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be off."

"I should be going, too," said Remus.

"Alright," I said, opening the door for them. "Stop by whenever you want, Moony. You know I don't mind having you around."  
Remus laughed. "Thanks, Padfoot."

Once they were out the door, I closed it behind them. Harry, who was back in my arms, was falling asleep against my shoulder.

"Tired, hm?" I asked him, yawning. "I think I might join you for a nap."

Collapsing on the couch, I fell asleep with Harry on my chest.

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**Author's Note: ****I hope you liked the chapter. Many thanks to Alorkin, who, when I first wrote this, gave me some helpful hints on toddler mannerisms. Thank you so much to everybody who has placed this on their favorites, alerts, or submitted a review. Keep 'em coming!**


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